This invention relates to shock absorbent supports for elongate members, and in particular to a support for hose and cable members extending between truck cab and trailer vehicles.
Trucks which comprise a cab (tractor) vehicle and a trailer vehicle generally have one or more elongate hose and electrical cable members extending therebetween. For example, a typical arrangement includes two air hoses for conveying air from the cab to the brakes of the trailer vehicle and an electrical cable for interconnecting the respective electrical systems of the cab and trailer vehicles. Such hose and cable members are required to be of sufficient length to accommodate articulation and flexing of the vehicles relative to each other as the truck turns and negotiates inclined surfaces, and therefore have substantial slack portions when the vehicles are aligned.
Such slack portions are typically arrayed in large loops which are then somewhat flattened as the slack is taken out of the hose and cable members when the vehicles articulate or flex with respect to each other. Because of the significant flexibility of such hose and cable members, means must be provided for supporting same in their looped configurations and to prevent damage thereto by abrasion or tangling with other parts of the vehicles. Preferably such support means is quickly and easily releasable from the members without the use of tools for disconnecting respective tractor and trailer vehicles because such operations are often conducted in unsheltered areas under adverse conditions.
One heretofore conventional method of supporting such flexible members utilizes one or more steel springs which connect at one end to a type of mounting bracket commonly found attached to many cab vehicles for this purpose and at the other end to the hose and cable members. However, such springs tend to rattle against and scratch the backs of respective cab vehicles and their clamping means typically are secured with nuts and bolts thereby requiring the use of tools for disconnecting same as when the respective cab and trailer vehicles are separated.
Other devices for supporting flexible hoses and cables between interconnected vehicles include those shown in the Dobrikin U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,948,450 and 2,984,445 and that shown in the Freed U.S. Pat. No. 3,650,545. However, none of these devices are compatible with the aforedescribed mounting brackets and thus require special mounting mechanisms. Also, tools are required to disconnect the hose and cable members supported by the devices shown in these patents. Further, such prior art devices tended to be complex, either in structure or in manufacture, necessitating a relatively high cost to the user.